Flooding in Jakarta forces 6,000 evacuations

© Tony Hartawan

Floodwaters in Jakarta.

The 2015 Jakarta floods continue as more heavy rain falls on the Indonesian capital. The National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) of Indonesia confirmed earlier today that 5,986 people have been forced to evacuate their homes after floods continued to inundate wide areas of the city.

Update: Australian news agency AAP are reporting that Jakarta police say that one person has died after being swept away by flood water in central Jakarta.

The heavy rain began on Sunday 08 February 2015. By Monday, west, north, central areas, including the President's palace, were all under water. Traffic, trains and buses were all brought to a standstill, with many streets under water between 30 and 80 cm deep.

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BNPD said 14 different relief centres have been set up for the displaced. They said that floods have affected 307 neighbourhoods (over 100 of them in west Jakarta) located in 97 urban villages in 33 sub-districts.

The National Disaster Mitigation Agency report that nearly 5,000 houses have been flooded across the city, affecting 15,517 people, many of whom remain in their homes. It is assumed that the 5,986 people who were evacuated were in areas where the floods had increased enough to pose a serious threat to safety.

More Rain to Come

Indonesian Agency for Meteorological, Climatological and Geophysics (Badan Meteorologi, Klimatologi, dan Geofisika / BMKG) has forecast further heavy rainfall for Jakarta and Upper Areas around the city until at least Thursday 12 February 2015.

With streets and ground already saturated and river levels rising fast, more heavy rain could push Jakarta towards a similar flood disaster to those experienced in 2007, when 54 people died, and 2013, when 47 people died.

Rainfall Figures

Recent rainfall figures from WMO for the Jakarta area are show below. Figures are for a 24 hour period between 09 and 10 February 2015.

Jakarta/Soekarno-Hatta - 123 mm

Jakarta/Observatory - 278 mm

Jakarta/Tanjung Priok - 310 mm

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